QuickBooks vs Charlie · for contractors
QuickBooks VS Charlie Office Manager iconCharlie

QuickBooks runs your books. Charlie runs the paperwork it can't.

QuickBooks is great at accounting. It was never built for certified payroll, prevailing wage, AIA progress billing or lien waivers — the construction compliance that actually gets you paid. Charlie does that by voice, and syncs it all back to QuickBooks.

See the difference Tour the Office app
Keep QuickBooks · add Charlie · $149/mo · 30-day money-back guarantee

This isn't really a versus. Most contractors shouldn't drop QuickBooks — it's a solid set of books. The problem is what happens when a prevailing-wage job needs a filed WH-347, or an owner wants an AIA pay application, or a supplier wants a lien waiver. QuickBooks doesn't do those, so they get done by hand on a Friday night. Charlie is the construction layer QuickBooks is missing — and it feeds QuickBooks, so your books stay current without the double entry.

Feature by feature

Where each one earns its keep.

 
QuickBooks Online
Charlie Office Mgr
General ledger, bank feeds, taxes
✓ Its strength
Syncs to QuickBooks
Invoicing & expense tracking
✓
✓
Certified payroll — WH-347
Add-on / manual
✓ Built in
Prevailing wage & Davis-Bacon fringe
Not native
✓ Built in
AIA G702 / G703 progress billing
Not native
✓ Built in
Lien waivers (state-specific)
Manual
✓ Generated
Retainage & pay-app deadline tracking
Manual
✓ Built in
Do it by voice, from the field
Type it in
✓ Talk it
Syncs with QuickBooks Online
—
✓ Two-way
Starting price
~$35–235/mo
$149/mo
Comparison reflects standard QuickBooks Online plans and QuickBooks Payroll add-ons as of 2026; features and pricing vary by plan and change over time. QuickBooks® is a trademark of Intuit Inc. Charlie / Ground Up AI is not affiliated with or endorsed by Intuit.
Credit where it's due

Keep QuickBooks. Add what it doesn't do.

QuickBooks is great for

Your books.

  • General ledger and financial statements
  • Bank & credit-card feeds and reconciliation
  • Sales tax and year-end tax prep
  • The tool your accountant already knows
Charlie does the part it wasn't built for

Construction compliance.

  • Certified payroll (WH-347) with statement of compliance
  • Prevailing wage, fringe & Davis-Bacon overtime
  • AIA progress billing, lien waivers, retainage
  • All by voice — then posted back to QuickBooks
The one that costs you a contract

QuickBooks won't file your certified payroll.

On a prevailing-wage job, an incomplete or late WH-347 with a statement of compliance is the #1 audit trigger — and QuickBooks doesn't produce one. Charlie generates it from the hours your crew already clocked, by voice, and posts the certified pay application to QuickBooks as an invoice. That's the gap, closed.

Simple pricing · $0 setup

Add Charlie to your books.

Office Manager
$149/mo
  • Certified payroll & prevailing wage (WH-347)
  • AIA progress billing & lien waivers
  • Receivables, retainage & job costing
  • Two-way QuickBooks Online sync
  • Everything by voice or on screen
Buy Office Manager
$0 setup · month-to-month · 30-day money-back guarantee
Straight answers

Questions, answered.

Do I have to leave QuickBooks?

No — most contractors shouldn't. Keep QuickBooks Online for your general ledger, taxes and bank feeds. Charlie handles the construction-specific compliance QuickBooks doesn't, and syncs receipts and certified pay applications back to it. You run both.

Why can't QuickBooks do certified payroll?

QuickBooks Payroll runs standard payroll well, but a prevailing-wage job needs a filed WH-347 with a statement of compliance, fringe on all hours, and the right Davis-Bacon overtime rules — construction-specific compliance QuickBooks isn't built to produce. Contractors usually cover it with a separate certified-payroll tool or by hand. Charlie does it natively.

How does the QuickBooks sync work?

Charlie connects to QuickBooks Online over Intuit's official OAuth connection. Receipts post as expenses and certified pay applications post as invoices — net of retainage and previous billings, matching your G702. It's the connector that's live and sandbox-validated today.

What does it cost on top of QuickBooks?

Charlie's Office Manager app is $149/mo — and it replaces the $200–600/mo certified-payroll software and a chunk of the bookkeeper hours you'd otherwise spend on prevailing-wage paperwork. $0 setup, month-to-month, 30-day money-back guarantee.

Is this just for the office, or the whole company?

Office Manager stands alone at $149/mo. When you're ready for estimating, scheduling, daily logs and the field tools, upgrade to Full Charlie — same data, no migration.

Ready when you are

Keep your books. Fix the paperwork.

Get Office Manager — $149/mo
30-day money-back guarantee